Fred Phelps and Historical Precision

Apparently, Fred Phelps (the pastor of that bastion of hope and encouragement, Westboro Baptist Church) has some tremendous insight into the Scriptures.

In the video below, Phelps pinpoints the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to the year 1898 BC. This is tremendous news to me since until now I have wondered endlessly how to date the Bronze Age portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. I am entirely unsure where he got this precise date, but let me assure you that there is no evidence in the Scriptures or archaeological record that points to this date. The very idea of being this precise about anything that far back in history is simply absurd.

I make no qualms about the fact that I consider Phelps to be a false prophet who is misleading people and defaming the name of Jesus Christ. False prophets love to sound absolutely certain, to make them appear to be authoritative. Be warned. This is something we have seen in Christianity since the time of the apostles and it will only get worse as time goes on.